After freelancing part-time as a Wordpress implementer (cos I never got into the PHP code), I decided to learn to code and switch careers from Public Health to Software Engineering. I enrolled in 6-month-long, 35hours/week online bootcamp when my daughter was just 4 months old. Six months after bootcamp, I landed my first full-time role.
I'm here to advise, support and cheer on anyone with a non-traditional background, or non-typical profile, who dreams of being a professional programmer. Ask away!
Latest comments (107)
Same here!
I studied a Bachelor's in Nutrition Sciences but since High School I had a depth love for statistics.
Before I finished college, I enrolled at freecodecamp.org and I got my first developer job in 6 months.
After it I studied Bachelor's in Software Engineering.
I'm very thankful with life, god and code for my decision of switching my career to become a Software Engineer.
Let's support female in tech with non-traditional profile!!
I'm in my 50s and have worked in broadcast for over 25 years, and I NEEEEEED to get out of television. I've been teaching myself and have managed to build a web app in PHP from concept to deployment. (patch.team if you want to have a look - it's nothing special, just a learning experience)
I have to say, i don't have any faith I'll be able to land a job as a dev. the task just seems too enormous. Anything you could advise?
Hello there! Congrats on making the leap into code! I checked your app out - it's pretty cool!
I think your best bet is to build finished and finessed apps, and use them to prove your worth to any dev team. In fact, do that AND find an opensource project with a tech stack you're comfortable with and start contributing! A third thing to do would be to use your television skills to create mini-vids of you coding or debugging, and publish them here on Dev.To
In terms of life experience, you got that in spades! So put that to work for you. Build a portfolio of 2-3 complete apps, rack up some green in GitHub through opensource involvement, and define a brand that puts you out there are a developer. These 3 things done consistently will get you noticed, fetch you some interviews and land you a job. GOOD LUCK!!
Great points. I'd not thought of contributing to an open source project, I'll get straight on that. Thanks very much for the advice, it is greatly appreciated.
I have been in the hospitality sector for 26 years and always had a passion for coding and learning how things work.
So I have started my journey of switching careers to software development.
I decided to dive into coding in order to create some software for the hospitality and this way change my career.
Any advice will be truly appreciated
Hello Fila,
Congratulations on choosing to pivot your career to software development! Your plan sounds solid, but instead of building your own software, I would strongly suggest finding an open-source hospitality software that uses a tech stack you'd like to learn, and making regular contributions to that project. This will accomplish several things:
(1) help you learn how to read, understand, modify and even improve other people's code
(2) prove that you are able to collaborate with dev teams - which is vital
(3) prove that you're able to work in a professional environment (which well-managed OS projects approximate)
(4) prove you are comfortable with Git workflow.
Don't get me wrong - you may certainly build personal projects to show off your skills and learning. But do not underestimate the power of opensource participation to prove your potential worth to and impact on a dev team. Even if your first PRs are simply updating their README or other documentation, it's something that shows how you are putting yourself out there.
I wish you all the favor in the world! :)
I switched to business analytics in my late 30's doing primarily SQL work, which got me doing python coding for automation and data solutions, which then pushed me into doing web apps in a multitude of languages. I am now 42 and have been with the same company for 12 years. I am thankful to them that they allowed me to switch gears from business operations to development. Also thankful for a supportive family. But even though I am grateful for that opportunity, its not an easy road, especially if you have a family. I always feel I am in "catch up" mode and don't have enough time to accomplish what I am want to accomplish. Impostor syndrome is a real thing as well. I am a developer now but would love to move my career from developer to software engineer. So I am always glad to see stories like Arit's. It gives me a boost of inspiration and motivation.
Thank you so much Barry! Your accomplishments are amazing - kudos to you! I wish you all the best in your career and aspirations!
I too, made a career change at about the same age as you, via a boot camp, when my kids started to go to school full-time. It wasn't easy, there were tears involved, but thanks to the support of my husband and friends, I graduated and am now working as a developer. Zero regrets. Kudos to you on your success!
Hi Arit,
First of all, you seem to be doing a great job by motivating the people who comment here. Great job! It's such a great thing as motivation gives an energy which can be unmatched sometimes :-)
Coming to my question. In case you are interested, can you share about your career plan? What technologies have you learnt/learning/are about to learn to advance your career as a software development? What made you choose them?
I'm a person who is currently in a confused state as I would have to choose my career path (technologies to learn) but am not sure where to start or which one to start with. So I think your inputs might help.
Hello Kaartic,
So sorry for my late reply to your question - thank you for your patience! :)
Prior to getting my first (and current) job, I had skills in Ruby/Rails and a little Javascript. So not very much, as you can see. Our tech stack at work is quite robust, and we're making the transition to technologies like React and ElasticSearch, so those 2 are definitely on my career roadmap.
However, I have heard time and time again that a solid foundation in the fundamentals really helps in picking up any new/emerging tech, as these are all built on the fundamentals. So my plan is not to "chase" emerging tech and stacks, but to deepen my understanding of dev and compsci concepts, techniques and best practices.
Hi Arit,
Thanks for the response! Just FYI, I generally do not mind late responses (BTW, this wasn't too late, really) because everyone has their one $DAYJOB and priorities :-)
Coming to the point. Thanks for mentioning the technologies you are learning/about to learn. I particularly like the fact that you encourage getting strong in the fundamentals. Though I do accept and realise that it is fundamental, I'm not sure that's enough as I think companies would look for expertise in some tech stacks. Though I'm not pretty sure about it. Regardless, I'm interested to learn how you think of improving your fundamentals? By taking online courses from MIT OpenCourseWare, etc.? Doing a degree in CS? Reading books?
In contrast, I actually think I have some grasp of the fundamentals as I took a Computer Science major in college. Of course, I won't say I'm strong enough. There are always places I could improve myself in :-) For now, I think of learning some of them so I'm not left behind :-)
Congratulation for your Achievment :).
I am keen in learning Javascript, which online platform should i follow regularly ?
Hello Ashutosh,
Forgive my late response to your question. Wow, there are so many online platforms that have excellent JS learning resources. I like Udacity, W3Schools, the MDN, to name a few.
Dear Arit,
Thank you so much for sharing this, i am in the same boat you were.
But it is good to read and know that this storm is surmountable.
But please share, how did you overcome those times you lack motivation and you
feel like giving up?
i am on the verge of throwing in the towel.
Regards
Hello!
Thank you for your question, brother, which proves to me that there is still some fight left in you. From the sound of your post, I would advise you to just hang the towel up for a while, but don't throw it in. Let me explain.
I believe that to succeed in any endeavour takes the intersection of skill, passion, and opportunity. Of those 3, passion is the fuel. And the answer to low passion is not to force ourselves to keep going, but to revisit the source of our passion (the fuel station), which is our love for what we were doing.
So brother, hanging the towel for you may mean taking a deliberate and time-bound break from pursuing coding, to give yourself a chance to remember why you took it up and what you enjoyed about it. I'm not sure what your financial situation is; you may have to do whatever you can to make ends meet for right now. Then take up coding again when you're rested and refueled.
It's a marathon, not a sprint. Please take care and I wish you all the favor and peace in the world.
What an inspiring article, thank you for sharing. I'm also in my late 30's switching to programming. I was wondering what some of your first tasks were in the workplace. Do you remember your first ticket or the first coding problem that you had to solve? I'd like to know what kinds of actual problems that entry level programmers are expected to solve. Thanks!
Hi Joseph!
Great question; my first-ever ticket was to set my development environment up, which was quite involved. My first contribution at work was to update the env-setup documentation :)
After that, I took tickets that involved small code updates, like HTML changes, or including a table column that allows an object to receive a new attribute. Most of what we code on my team ends up in front-end production, so I see the "fruit" of my work in a very visual way. Seeing my little changes reflected on our production sites gave my confidence such a boost.
I would say that, so far, my biggest trip-ups at work have been GitHub-flow related. Which is why I shout from the rooftops: "Get involved in opensource!!!" In my opinion, it's the closest you can approximate a professional coding environment, and it's great practice in code review, reading, understanding and modifying code, avoiding adding code debt, etc. If you're into Rails and/or JS, the Dev.To opensource project is just stellar!
Good luck!
Wow! Do you think you could have done it without a bootcamp? I have a 3 year old and 6 month old and work full-time in a non-tech job, and I'm struggling to meet my goals. Unfortunately I do not have the ability to do a bootcamp :(
Hello MillCode!
Wow! Let me first say: you have already proven that you are a #BadAss #Amazonian. To have coding goals while wholly responsible for 2 whole lives? Bravo, sis, I'm proud!
But that isn't why you posted is it? :) I hear you about affording bootcamp; they can be expensive. I would advise the following:
(1) Ready your mind to be in the learning zone for a while. Learning to code is no small feat. A major source of stress for us moms is burdening ourselves with crazy expectations. No matter how long it takes, it will be so worth it when you land a programming job that fits your family and goals. So please take the time and invest it well.
(2) Get a sense for what skills are stubbornly in demand where you live. I'm not sure how "relocatable" you are; for me, it just wasn't an option. I know that, across the board, Javascript is pretty hot (frontend JS like React, backend like Node, etc). So you can start there. Don't fall into the trap of dipping your toe into multiple languages. Pick one and get good; proficiency in 1 language helps you pick up others quicker.
(3) Focus on the fundamentals. As you pick up new skills and knowledge, use them on a project that you build piece by piece. Say a portfolio site: start with the HTML and CSS, adding onto it bit by bit, then incorporate JS as you learn.
(4) Set task-based goals (not time-based). Example: "Today I'll implement 2 examples of the 'map' method" instead of "I'll study for 3 hours". As moms, our time is largely not under our control, so I think time-based goals can be potentially self-defeating.
(5) As soon as you've covered a good part of the fundamentals, get involved in an opensource project (or some group that codes together and builds a project together). This will help get you comfortable reading, understanding and modifying other people's code - which is key in a professional environment.
I'll stop there. Please mama do not be overwhelmed. That's why I started with "this will take time, yield and embrace it". You'll be a much stronger and competitive developer for it. I wish you strength and grace. Congratulations!
Why not crawl up from the PHP pitfall and jump into JS one... haha
Hii, I'm an Engineering Graduate looking forward for a career in professional writing, Can you guide me how to proceed further ??
Hello Kamalnath!
I don't think I'm the right person to answer your question; I'm not knowledgable in professional writing. But I wish you luck!
Hi Arit,
How did you handle the rejections when you were applying for a job?
I'm on my own job search but this seems to be so hard when you are rejected for a position.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Hello Mario!
Congratulations on being on the job hunt! Hmmm I admit: I found it HARD to get over rejections. Because I'm self- and bootcamp-taught, each rejection felt like a judgement that my skills weren't good enough, and I was never going to be good enough to be a developer. That was the hardest part. There were many tears, and great reluctance to put myself out there again and send another job application.
What kept me going was my mentor. He never relented in telling me and encouraging me that I had what it took. I believed him because he's a hiring manager at his workplace, so he sees candidates from all experience levels regularly. He would say "Arit, if you lived where I am, you would already have a job cos i would've hired you! That's how much I KNOW that you are built for this industry!"
So my advice is to seek out a professional in your chosen industry, preferably someone who hires for their company. Have them critically assess your candidacy and point out areas you can strengthen.
Then, brother, just KEEP APPLYING. Don't stop. Do what you gotta do for money or to pay bills or whatever, but every morning and every night say to yourself "I am a [insert your desired job title here]"
I wish you all the favor and open doors in the world! Good luck!
What's your take on TDD?
Great question Daniel,
I remember my first lesson in TDD during bootcamp; I was so THRILLED that there was a less tedious way to test my app's functionality lol! So I jumped headfirst into TDD.
Now that I'm working with a team that prioritizes TDD, I'm learning soooo much more. I write specs for about 80% of the code that I write. However, I have worked on tasks where passing specs didn't invoke 100% confidence that the code worked. I'm learning that in some situations, tests don't cover or capture everything.
So my take is: learn and embrace TDD for its power, but understand that it's not a substitute for conscientious, intelligent coding :D
Have you learn anything about Functional Programming?
Cool. I think that TDD is a great improvement for code confidence :D
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